


Skeletons and Werewolves

by Tindraake



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Am I Doing Tags Right, Anxiety, Café, Cat Cafe, Christmas, Christmas Eve, First Dates, Flirting, Fluff, I just wanted to write some casual slice of life fluff, I'm not entirely sure how this'll go, Lust goes by Hearts in this story, M/M, Minor Animal Injury, No bigger conflict, Other, Picking Berries, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Werewolves, Wholesome, adding tags as I go, maybe? - Freeform, minor animal death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-02-12 16:07:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21479125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tindraake/pseuds/Tindraake
Summary: Just some slice of life fluff about some UTMV skeletons (some of which are werewolves) in a casual, non-AU/Multiverse-shenanigans setting. That's about it. More characters and relationships will happen later on, but I won't tag them before the characters show up.-There's no bigger plot at the moment because I'm unable to plan stuff like that ahead of time, so be prepared for not much happening in the first few chapters aside from character introductions.-Mainly inspired by Mutatedbunnies' 'The Two Cockroaches' and a bit of 'A Curious Case of Possession, Ghouls, and How Nightmares Can Come True' (because, y'know, werewolves-).
Relationships: Asgore/Toriel (Mentioned), Cross & Epic (Friends), Cross/Dream, Error/Ink, Geno/Reaper, Lust/Blue (Maybe? Eventually?), More to come, Nightmare/Ccino
Comments: 18
Kudos: 47





	1. Berries and Wolves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First time publishing anything on this site. I'm definitely not screaming internally. Nu-uh.  
Anyway, character personalities and appearances aren't going to follow canon 100%, for... pretty obvious reasons. 
> 
> As weird as this is to say, I don't really consider myself much of a writer, I highly prefer drawing. Still, I hope this'll still be at least mainly enjoyable to read.  
English is my 3rd language, so if you notice any typos or if there's a tag I should add, please do tell. c:

There was just something incredibly relaxing about walking in a forest, picking berries, throwing a couple of them directly into your mouth instead of the small plastic boxes they were supposed to go in.   
  
As someone who’d lived his entire life in a more metropolitan area with not much nature nearby, Ccino had never really experienced something like this before. The significantly more fresh air, the natural silence, the soft feeling of moss under your foot, almost tripping over an exposed tree root-  
He stumbled forward a bit, but managed to not fall flat on his face.

The forest was located very close to the town, so Ccino had decided to pick some berries, mainly blueberries, to use for pastries and other baked goods for his café, and maybe some for himself as well. The berries picked directly from the forest tasted so much better than the ones you could buy frozen from the store.   
He wondered what he should make of them first. Maybe a pie or jam? 

It was around 4pm, and it was starting to get a little dark.   
He had spent several hours in the forest at this point, and had managed to collect a good amount of berries and even some mushrooms. He grabbed a few more berries before standing up and stretching, his bones letting out a couple of pops and cracks.   
‘_Maybe spending so much time hunched over wasn’t a good idea..._’  
Before he could start heading home, he heard a rustle from behind him.   
He turned around before taking a startled step back, almost tripping over the tree root again.   
‘_A wolf!_’  
It was way too big to be a regular dog, so wolf was the only other option. 

The skeleton gulped.   
What was he supposed to do now?! He wasn’t prepared to deal with an oversized, wild dog! Maybe it wouldn’t attack him? He was just a pile of bones held together by magic, after all. Why would it attack him? He had no nutritional value aside from the marrow probably-  
He was quickly snapped back to reality by the wolf tugging on his sleeve. It had walked over to the internally panicking skeleton while he was lost in his thoughts.   
Ccino blinked a couple of times before looking down at the large canine, confused.   
The wolf stopped tugging once it noticed it had gotten the skeleton’s attention and took a couple of running steps back to where it came from, before turning around and looking at him.   
‘_Does it want me to follow...?_’  
He took a couple of hesitant steps after the wolf, before starting to walk at his regular speed. The light grey wolf started a slow trot, stopping every now and then to make sure the skeleton was following it. 

After a while, it sprinted a little further forward through some bushes and barked.   
Once Ccino made it trough the bushes, he was greeted by what he assumed was the rest of the pack, standing protectively around... something. He couldn’t really see past them.   
The skeleton was hesitant to go forward, but the wolf he’d followed nudged him from the back, so he took a couple of experimental steps forward. This caused the other wolves to part a bit, revealing another wolf, larger than any of the others, fur completely black and it’s left hind leg stuck in an old bear trap. 

Ccino gasped in shock before walking over to the injured canine. The wolf stared at him, but didn’t show any aggression. It must’ve understood that he wanted to help.   
Thankfully, by some miracle, the trap hadn’t pierced the bone. The ‘jaws’ must’ve dulled over time, considering traps like these hadn’t been legal in years.   
It took some time and a lot of effort, but he managed to eventually open the trap, the wolf tugging it’s leg away from the contraption immediately.   
It looked up at the skeleton before shakily moving closer to him and licking his face as thanks.   
The skeleton chuckled as he gently pet the wolf’s head, the canine happily wagging it‘s tail in response. 

Once he pulled his hand away, the wolf licked the wound on it’s leg, ridding it of the worst blood and anything that might have gotten into the cuts.   
It then stood up and began leading it’s pack away, stopping once to give the skeleton a last glance of gratefulness. 

Ccino smiled happily as he watched the wolves leave. The black one was limping, but hopefully it would be okay. Maybe he should call the vet about it once he returned home?   
He glanced back at the bear trap. He couldn’t just leave it there, so he decided to take it with him.   
He looked around, only now realizing he didn’t know where he was. He sighed shakily before starting to reverse his steps until he started recognizing the scenery. 

\---

It was almost completely dark once he reached home. The street lights had turned on hours ago and were now casting their somewhat eerie, orange glow onto the streets of the little town. 

Ccino had stopped by the vet to ask about the wolves and what to do with the trap, so his way home had been a little longer. 

_Apparently there was no need to worry about the injured wolf, as it had come to the vet on it’s own accord, alongside the rest of it’s pack. _  
_Geno said the wolves usually came directly to him when any of them needed healing. _  
_The one that got stuck in the trap was apparently the leader of the pack. It didn’t seem to be in any danger, but he decided to keep an eye on it for the night, in case the wound had gotten infected, so the pack was staying in an enclosure outside of the small animal hospital, built specifically for wildlife to stay when needed. _

_He was also took the bear trap and promised to get rid of it as soon as he could._

Once Ccino finally made it home, he pretty much immediately collapsed onto the couch. He wasn’t used to walking this much, so his feet felt like mush.   
What made him feel a little better was his cats, that ran to him as fast as their little feet allowed and jumped onto him. They purred and rubbed against whatever part of him was closest.   
He smiled tiredly and pet the one closest to his hands. Eventually he had to get up from the couch though. His feet ached but he pushed through it for his cats. They needed feeding, after all. 

Once that was done, he grabbed the basket with the berry containers, having to pull more than one of the cats away from it to keep them from trying to munch up the berries. Thankfully he had put the lids on before he came home.  
He put the containers onto the table and began sticking labels on them, marking the date and the contents onto the small, blank, white stickers.   
He then put a couple of boxes into his fridge, and the rest into the freezer. 

Normally he would have looked at TV or played with his cats before going to bed, but right now he was too tired to do anything but eat something before changing into his pajamas and falling face first onto his bed, falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. 

It had certainly been an interesting afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, I originally planned this to be a human AU, but I instinctively wrote skeletons instead, so after I'd written the scene of Ccino freaking out over the wolf I just said 'screw it' and went with skeletons.  
At least in the beginning, the 'camera' will be following Ccino for the most part, but will eventually switch more to other characters as well. 
> 
> I don't really have a solid plot or anything planned, just what people are going to be together by the end of the the story.  
If you have any ideas on what you'd like to see happen in the future, feel free to suggest them. c:


	2. Meeting the Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more peeps and places get introduced, most importantly the twins. Also a small peek at a certain barista's past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a little longer. 
> 
> Something I forgot to mention in the last chapter: I don't have an update schedule, so updates happen when they happen. However, I will not abandon the story, unless I specifically say so.

Ccino was grateful he owned the café and therefore could decide when it was open. Usually he opened the café around 9 o’clock, but considering it was already 8 when he woke up, he decided it was better to open it an hour or two later than usual so he wouldn’t have to stress about getting everything ready on time.   
Instead he took his time doing his usual morning routine as he looked back at yesterday’s events.   
It only now dawned on him he had pet an apex predator on the head without even thinking about it. He considered himself lucky it hadn’t bitten his hand off for suddenly touching it. 

Now that he thought about it, there was something weird about the wolves he’d seen yesterday.   
Otherwise they seemed like regular wolves, but their eyes had unnatural colours. The one that had led him to the other ones had bright blue eyes. Maybe they were part dog? That still didn’t explain why the black one had purple eyes. As far as he knew, even dogs couldn’t have purple eyes. Maybe it was some sort of mutation? 

He shrugged those thoughts off as he began working on everything he had to get ready before opening the café. He thanked the stars he had done some preparations yesterday before going to pick some berries.   
The clock was a little past 10am by the time he could finally open. Not even five minutes later his first customer arrived; a nice, old human lady from the other side of the street. She’d stopped by every day after he’d first opened the café a little over a week ago, to get her second morning coffee and a pastry of some kind, whatever she felt like that day.   
She was very nice to talk with and she always tipped him a little extra.   
“_It’s so nice to see young people starting their own businesses instead of all those big corporations that are everywhere nowadays!_” She’d said. 

Ccino had to agree with her. Seeing people his age, or even younger, starting their own businesses and thriving was a nice sight compared to just seeing the same 3-5 big-name brands all the time.   
However, he also very much understood why some just settled with working for the big corporations. In the bigger, constantly expanding metropolitan areas you had to get really lucky to make it in the business world mostly ruled by big multimillion corporations.   
Here on the countryside it was different though. Often times the bigger businesses took a while to get there, if at all, due to the smaller population numbers. Why open a new location in some small town with maybe a couple thousand people _at most_, when you could open another location in a big city with a population of _hundreds of thousands _or even_ millions _in more populated countries. 

At the same time, he was kind of grateful for that. Maybe he could keep his little café running until he felt like retiring or changing jobs. Of course, it was quite silly to think that that would be possible, but a monster could dream.

Truth be told, Ccino had dreamt of having his own little café in some nice, rural town ever since his dad had told him and his brother stories of a café he used to own that he’d inherited from his parents. The house it was located in unfortunately burned down, and he didn’t have the money to start up again, so he worked for a bigger restaurant chain before he got ill had to quit. 

_While he knew he wouldn’t live to see it, he had wished at least one of his sons would start their own little café some day, to keep the family tradition alive. While his brother wasn’t really interested in the idea, it had become Ccino’s dream. So after the brothers were done with their studies and got offered a place to work at one of the more high-end bakery and café chains in the country, that they had been to work practice to when they were studying, Ccino turned down the offer while his brother took it without a second thought. His brother had definitely questioned his choice, but didn’t start an argument over it, thankfully. _

_Ccino had already saved up enough cash and looked up a affordable place for his future café, so he didn’t stick around in the small apartment the two had lived in until now, when his brother decided to move closer to his new job. _

_They didn’t really have much furniture or stuff in general, so they sold what they couldn’t take with them, and shared the rest. Ccino decided to take their cats with him, since his brother had admitted he most likely wouldn’t have the time or ability to properly care for them due to his new job. _

_The two brothers eventually parted with a hug and a promise to keep in touch with each other when they could. _

_Ccino had felt jittery and nervous the entire long train ride to the little town. He hadn’t really been to the countryside before so he wasn’t entirely sure on what to expect. Of course he had done some research on the town itself, to make sure it wasn’t some criminal-infested hellhole where you wouldn’t dare to go outside after dark, as well as read up on what kind of wildlife and flora there could be since the town was almost completely surrounded by forest and fields.   
_ _The most one had to deal with in the big city was sparrows, pigeons, various corvids and maybe the occasional rat, city fox or rabbit. _

The town had however turned out to be a very pleasant place. Crime was essentially at zero, largely due to the fact that most people had lived here for generations and everyone knew eachother, and the houses and public spaces were relatively well kept up even with the minimal funding such a small place had. 

There was a school that had everything from 1st grade to college in the same house. Due to the small population, it wasn’t too cramped, apparently. 

A little way from the center of the town was a small flower shop owned by a nice, old Goat Monster name Asgore. Apparently he was the husband of one of the teachers at the school. They also had two kids, one of which was adopted. They seemed pretty well behaved from what he could see when they visited the café. Although their parents had to stop them from playing with their food a couple of times. 

Asgore was assumably also the one that provided the local undertaker, Reaper, with flowers, when needed. Reaper was definitely an... Interesting person. His morbid sense of humour didn’t really help. It didn’t really seem to bother Geno, the town’s main vet, considering they were married and even had a son together. Goth was admittedly very adorable. He was too young to really speak yet, but he enjoyed babbling at and playing with the cats when they visited. 

Then there was his only real source of ‘competition’ in the town. A pub on the first floor of the mall in the center of town. Though to be honest, they didn’t really consider eachother competitors. The fire elemental that owned the pub had even said he was glad another food establishment showed up. He could now keep his establishment open from afternoon to night instead of the entire day, which was significantly less stressful with such a small amount of staff, since Ccino usually opened his café either in the morning or early day. Until then, the pub had been the only permanent food establishment in the town for years. 

Speaking of the pub, there was the young security guard, Cross. The pub was pretty much the only place where he was needed in the little town, since sometimes people got a little too rowdy after taking one too many drinks.   
The skeleton seemed somewhat stoic and intimidating at first glance, but from his few interactions with him, Ccino concluded he was just a little socially awkward, so he tried to look intimidating and generally stay hidden in a corner so no one would come and talk to him, minimizing the risk of him embarrassing himself by saying something stupid. Certainly an unexpected personality - job combo, but seems like he gets the job done regardless. A part of Ccino was a little concerned for the other. It was one thing to not want to embarrass oneself, but being so afraid of it that you’d rather isolate yourself as much as possible, wasn’t exactly normal. Maybe-

The short skeleton was interrupted from his thoughts by the jingle of the bell above the café door. Another skeleton, around his age, he assumed, walked in. He hadn’t really met this skeleton before, so he was probably from the outer parts of town. He had canary yellow eyes and clothing that matched the colour of his eyes. It made him stand out like a ray of sunshine against the muddled greys and browns of the chilly outside. 

The new monster didn’t even make it half-way to the counter before one of the cats started purring and rubbing against his leg, at which point he knelt down and began petting the purring cat, a happy smile on his face, for a solid 5 minutes before remembering he was going to order something.   
He quickly stood up again, clearly a little embarrassed due for forgetting why he was there in the first place, and walked over to the counter and gave the barista a small, awkward smile and a quiet ‘hello’ in greeting -which Ccino returned, although more confidently-, before eyeing over the various pastries and other baked goods behind the glass display next to the counter.   
Eventually he settled on a slice of cinnamon apple pie, a chocolate muffin, a small bottle of apple juice and a regular cup of plain, black coffee.   
“To go, if possible.”  
He clarified while digging up his wallet from his pocket and handing over even money to the other. 

One of the cats jumped onto the counter while Ccino was working on the yellow-eyed skeleton’s order. The newcomer gladly began petting it as he returned his gaze to the barista, who packed the items into a small paper bag before handing it over to him.   
He smiled, more confidently this time.  
“Thank you! I’ve been wanting to visit this place since I heard it opened, but I haven’t had the time to yet.”  
He gave the cat a last scritch behind the ear.   
“I certainly wasn’t expecting cats, but I’m not complaining. The opposite, actually.”  
He smiled at the cat  
“Understandable. Cat cafés aren’t very common even in the big cities, so they’re bound to be even more unexpected here on the countryside.”  
The other nodded back before he began turning to leave.   
“I have to convince my brother to come with me next time. I’m sure he’d love all the cats here.” 

They then said their goodbyes and waved. The leaving skeleton also waved and greeted the old lady who had now lifted her focus from the crossword she was doing while finishing her coffee. 

“Such a nice young boy, that Dream. He’s always been very helpful around town, even back when he was still the size of a fire extinguisher. His brother is a more quiet type, and usually doesn’t even leave their yard, but he’s still a good boy as well.”  
The lady explained after the other skeleton, Dream, had left. 

‘_He certainly has an interesting name._’  
The barista thought to himself.   
‘_What’s his brother’s name then? Nightmare?_’  
He smiled at the idea, amused. He didn’t expect to actually be right about it, so he was a little shocked when he found out he was correct the next day when Dream visited the café again, bringing the aforementioned Nightmare with him.  
He had to wonder what their parents had thought when naming them that, especially considering one of them had a very negative connotation, while the other had a very positive one. 

Then again, he was named after coffee, so who was he to judge. 

The brothers were both the same height and looked nearly identical aside from their eye colour and clothing.  
Dream’s face was the slightest bit rounder and softer in shape while Nightmare’s was a little more defined. 

Like the old lady had said, the other twin was more silent, only quietly telling his brother what he wanted before limping over to a table, where he was immediately greeted by a cat that climbed onto his lap the moment he sat down.   
“His leg got injured a couple of days back, but he refuses to use a crutch. He’s pretty stubborn.”   
Dream explained while looking over to his brother who was now cuddling the fluffy cat, a content smile on his face and eyes closed.   
“Hopefully he doesn’t fall asleep on the cat though.”  
Both Ccino and Dream laughed a bit at that. 

Nightmare managed to stay awake even though half of his face was buried into the cat’s fluffy side until Dream brought their orders to the table.   
Ccino focused on cleaning the outer side of the glass display while the two brother’s engaged in quiet conversation about this and that.   
He did however catch the purple twin sneaking glances at him every now and then, often enough to actually make him check if he had anything on his face. He couldn’t spot anything though.   
They eventually ordered seconds, although Ccino had the sneaking suspicion it was because Nightmare wanted to stay longer just to cuddle the three cats that had now all fallen asleep on and around him, rather than them actually needing more coffee.  
He didn’t mind though. It was nice having someone at the café even if they were just doing their own thing. 

A few more customers came and went before the brothers eventually left, Dream pretty much having to drag the other from the couch, and more importantly, cats.   
Ccino looked on, amused, as Dream purposefully overdramatically complained about how it had been a mistake to bring Nightmare here, said skeleton seeming equally amused at this. 

Guess he’d gotten himself a couple more regulars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think Ccino's brother officially has any specific name, so I left him unnamed for now. I've been thinking of calling him 'Mocha' though. Gotta keep the coffee theme.  
-  
While the story isn't set in a specific country, I did base it off of Finland, since that's were I live and therefore know most about it.  
On the topic of which, when referring to small children, we often say 'vaahtosammuttimen kokoinen', which translates to 'the size of a fire extinguisher'. Sounds significantly less cute in English...  
-  
Some skeleton headcanons related to this chapter:
> 
> -Skeletons don’t really die of old age the same way humans and other monsters do. Their bodies and immune systems do get weaker when they get old, making them more likely to die because of a disease, and their ability to reproduce starts vanishing around age 75-80, but otherwise they are virtually immortal. 
> 
> -Skeletons can reproduce regardless of gender. There are two ways this can happen.  
1\. A method that involves the SOULs of the parents touching  
2\. The way humans reproduce


	3. Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get to follow some other characters as well, this time around. c:

It had now been approximately a month since Ccino had opened his café. Business was relaxed, but it was enough to keep the place going and for the skeleton and his cats to live comfortably enough. Besides, the various winter holidays were starting soon, and that meant more business for pretty much everyone.   
Ccino had strictly decided to not start putting out holiday things before December started. It was maybe a bit of a challenge since everyone, including him, were slowly getting into the holiday spirit.   
As he had guessed, the twins, mainly Nightmare, visited almost every day. He always stayed for a few hours, sometimes bringing a notebook and scribbling something into it. Apparently he wrote in his free time.   
He had even started talking with the barista a little more, something Ccino was glad about. While he did know a lot of people from the town by now, he didn’t have anyone he really considered a friend yet. He should probably start going out more now that he had the café largely under control. 

Nightmare worked at the local library. He had returned to work now that his leg was mainly healed.   
“Not that it usually takes too much out of me, but the doctor insisted I needed a couple weeks off since I spend most of the day on my legs.”  
The purple-clad skeleton huffed in mild annoyance.   
Ccino smiled.   
“It’s still better to take a couple of weeks off and get fixed up quicker, than spend months limping around in mild pain because you’re too stubborn, isn’t it?”  
Nightmare pouted.  
“I guess.”  
There was a short silence before both of them laughed lightly. What exactly they found funny wasn’t entirely clear to either of them. 

It was nearly closing time and no one else was at the café, so Ccino decided to sit down on the opposite side of the table to Nightmare.   
It had been a sunny day, something that had been a rare treat this autumn, so it was a little warmer than it usually was, and maybe an hour or two ago the café had been painted in the warm hues of the sunset outside.   
There was a comfortable silence between the skeletons, only broken by the occasional noises the cats made, until the purple one spoke up.   
“So... Since you’re new here, have you heard about the gift exchange next month?”  
The barista shook his head.   
“I’ve heard people mention it, but I don’t know what it is, no.”  
“It’s an annual event where you, well, exchange gifts with others. However, you don’t know who will receive your gift and who’s gift you’ll receive. Everyone who brings a gift, gets a gift, so no one is left out. Usually people bring things like holiday decorations, chocolate or coffee, since those are relatively cheap, and most people will like them. Kids have their own version of the event, since I doubt many of them would get much joy out of a package of coffee.”  
Nightmare huffed in amusement while Ccino nodded, equally amused.   
“The event is held on the 23rd next month around 4-5pm in the library, so you still have time, if you want to join.”  
Nightmare added.   
“I think I will. Thanks for telling me.”  
Ccino smiled before looking down in thought. What should he get...?   
“Don’t work yourself up too much because of it, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t bring anything fancy.”  
“I know, but I want to bring something other than just a regular slab of chocolate!”  
Ccino pouted, still trying to think of something.   
“...You bake the stuff for the café yourself right? Maybe you could bake something?”  
The purple one suggested.   
“...Yeah... I think that would work. Thanks for the idea! But what should I make? Just some gingerbreads or-”  
He continued to ramble up various things, mainly to himself, lost in thought.   
Nightmare huffed with a small smile on his face. The new skeleton definitely had a good heart... Well, SOUL, skeletons didn’t have hearts. He just hoped the other wouldn’t overwork himself over something so minor as a fun little event. 

He looked up at the clock on the wall, realizing he only had around 5 minutes until he was supposed to meet Dream by one of the grocery stores in the mall so they could go grocery shopping. He didn’t particularly enjoy walking around, shopping for stuff in your average grocery store, but two heads were better than one, especially when it came to remembering things they might have forgotten to add to their shopping list.   
Besides, since they were shopping for almost a week forward for two and some more, it was easier to get everything home when they could divide the weight between the two of them.   
Whatever they might forget, they had to live without for 3-5 days, since neither would be able to go out in broad daylight for those few days.   
Why did full moons have to be such a pain?

He quickly downed the rest of his coffee before tapping the barista on the shoulder to snap him back to reality again.   
“I’ll be going now. I have to meet Dream in a few minutes, so I have to get going. Thanks for the great coffee.”  
He gave a friendly wink, stood up from his seat and walked around the barista. 

“Ah- Alright! Sorry I got lost in my thoughts again.”  
Ccino flushed lightly in embarrassment.   
“See you again... Tomorrow?”  
The other turned around before he could open the door to leave.   
“Actually, I will not be able to come by for a few days. I have some... Things I need to take care off. But I will return once that’s done.”  
He reassured with a smile before leaving. 

Honestly, he was going to miss the little café, even if it was only for a few days. The coffee was great, the general atmosphere was very cozy, there were cats... And honestly, something about the barista stood out to him. He wasn’t sure what. He just... Wanted to know more about the new skeleton. He didn’t understand why. He was just a regular skeleton that for whatever reason had moved to the countryside and opened a cat café. Or maybe that was exactly the reason? Or maybe his SOUL was telling him to actually try to socialize more so he wouldn’t be stuck knowing only the small group of people he currently hung out with. 

Yeah, that was probably it. 

\---

He quickly walked over to where he was going to meet up with his brother, only to see him already waiting there.  
“Woah! I’m actually surprised I was here before you. Usually you’re like half an hour early.”  
“Yeah.. You know how much I like staying at that café.”  
Dream gave a smug smirk.   
“What?”  
The purple twin raised a brow.   
“You like that barista, don’t you~?”  
Dream booped his brother on the cheek with his finger as they walked into the store, grabbing a shopping cart on the way.   
Nightmare gave him an unimpressed look.  
“Dream... Unlike you, I need to actually get to know a person before trying to jump into a relationship with someone. He’s nice, I’ll admit that, but I barely know him.”  
The yellow brother pouted lightly while walking beside the cart his brother was pushing through the section with bread and other baked goods, grabbing a bag of rye bread and throwing it into the cart.   
“I’m not THAT quick to try to get into relationships!”  
“You were seriously trying to flirt with Error after like 3 days of first meeting him.”   
“That was one time!”  
“Hearts.”  
“Doesn’t count, he started it and was generally known as the biggest flirt in the region. Besides, you were interested in him too, don’t think I didn’t notice.”  
“What about that one cat-monster in junior-high? What was his name, Nils?”  
“Neil. And we were just friends.”  
“Yeah, right.”  
“Nightmare-”  
  
Dream was abruptly cut off as he bumped into someone, hard enough for both of them to fall to the ground.   
“I-I’m sorry- I didn’t mean to-”  
The stranger stuttered, a little dazed.   
“I-it’s alright I wasn’t looking ahead..”  
The two skeletons clumsily helped eachother up before the other one quickly walked off after uttering a couple more startled apologies.  
Dream looked after him until the other disappeared behind some shelves a few isles away, before turning around to meet his brother’s raised brow and knowing look.   
“Allright, look... You have to agree, he was pretty hot.”  
Nightmare facepalmed. 

\---

A few isles down, Cross was desperately trying to keep himself from hyperventilating.  
_He’d fucked up, oh shit, he’d fucked up, oh fuck, oh no- No, nonono... It was okay.. He said it was okay... It was okay... Breathe, Cross, breathe... 4 seconds in, 7 seconds hold, 8 seconds out..._  
He repeated it a few times before he finally began calming down.   
Just to be sure, he peeked behind the corner of the shelf. The skeleton he’d bumped into wasn’t showing any signs of annoyance, and was in fact excitedly showing his... Brother? A cute, small holiday decoration that looked like a bullfinch. The other seemed to try to explain to him that they had enough decorations, and no, he shouldn’t buy every adorable trinket he comes across. 

He sighed in relief. He wished he wasn’t so nervous around people, but it’s hard not to be when you’ve grown up in an environment where people had very little tolerance for mistakes, no matter how minor. Either you’re perfect, or you’re nothing.   
It was the main reason he’d moved to the small town, without informing anyone from his family about it.  
He just wanted to get away from his past and live his life without constant fear of being straight up disowned and abandoned by everyone he knew.   
  
Life definitely felt much better now, but his anxieties and insecurities were still holding on. Somehow he had still managed to get a job as a security guard, thanks to his education and training.   
He shivered at the mere idea of how his father would react if he found out that he’d become a measly security guard at a pub of all things in some small town in the middle of nowhere, instead of... Whatever high-rank thing he _should_ have become in his father's opinion, which according to him, was the only correct one. 

He shook his head before continuing with his shopping. He still had to get some snacks.   
Epic, the only real friend he’d had, aside from the two human kids from his old neighbourhood, was coming over later that night. They were just going to hang out, watch anime, play video games and generally nerd out. He’d mentioned finding some great new game they HAD to try out. 

Cross was looking forward to it. Epic always got him to relax and just... Be himself. Both of them knew the other wouldn’t judge regardless of how stupid the other got. He considered himself lucky to have such a great friend. He could probably murder someone and Epic would be either sitting in jail with him, and/or breaking him out in some ridiculous manner that you’d only see in TV shows that shouldn’t be taken seriously. 

Once he had everything he needed, he grabbed another package of chocolate, despite already having 3 in his basket, on his way to the cashier. His chocolate stash needed filling. Besides, you could never have too much chocolate. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cross is a mood. Anxiety and chocolate.  
-  
I originally planned for this chapter to be longer, but I wasn't satisfied with the last parts of it, so I'm trying to write something better and add it to the next chapter instead.  
-  
Edit: IDK if you others can see the notes from the first chapter on this one, but I can for some reason? It was not intended.


	4. Full Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple different POVs of what happened during the night.  
We also get to see who the other wolfy boys are. c:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter didn't turn out quite as long as I wanted it to, but I want to get a christmas-y chapter out in time for Christmas, that would take place after this chapter, so... here you go. ovo'

That night Ccino couldn’t sleep. He had felt tired, but the moment he laid down in bed, he felt wide awake.   
He looked out the window. The moon was almost full, still laying low in the dark sky.   
Guess he wasn’t going to get much sleep for a few nights.   
Ccino had noticed he always had trouble sleeping during full moon and a day or two before and after. His father had had the same issue, as did his brother. None of them had any idea as to why. 

Ccino remembered him and his brother joking about maybe being werewolves since they couldn’t sleep during full moon. It was silly. Werewolves didn’t exist, and even then, they transformed during full moon instead of suffering from mild insomnia. At least that’s what he’d read. 

The skeleton got out of bed to make himself a cup of cocoa. If he wasn’t going to sleep, he might as well try to enjoy himself.   
His cats moved to were he had lain the moment he got up. He chuckled quietly as he watched the cats lazily push eachother, trying to get themselves the best spot, before slipping on his pink bunny slippers and walking into the kitchen. 

Once he had his cup of warm cocoa with an unholy amount of marshmallows dumped into it, he walked past his bedroom and opened the door to the small back yard. It definitely wasn’t big, maybe 5 by 5 meters, surrounded by black chokeberry bushes. The bushes had dropped all their leaves long ago, leaving only the branches and some probably spoiled berries that hadn’t been eaten by birds or insects.   
Maybe he should pick some for himself next year. Apparently chokeberries, or aronias as they were also known as, were rich in vitamin as well as being really good for your health, so it wouldn’t hurt to have some during the long winter.   
He hadn’t really had any before though, so he was going to only grab a few at first, to see if he actually liked the taste or not. 

It was quite cold outside, especially since the wind was blowing, so he’d grabbed his hoodie before going out.   
The world was surprisingly silent during the night, especially this time of year. There were barely any noises aside from the wind rustling fallen leaves and branches.   
Which is why Ccino nearly got a SOUL attack when a rabbit jumped through the bushes, a wolf on it’s heels. They ran a couple laps on the yard before running through the bushes and disappearing. 

Ccino took a couple of moments to calm his poor SOUL. Stars, that had scared him. He was glad he hadn’t spilled any of the cocoa on himself, that would’ve been a pain to clean up.   
He sighed and was about to get up when he heard some less sudden rustling from where the rabbit and wolf had jumped onto his yard.   
Not too long after, another wolf walked through, seemingly following the trail of the previous one.   
This wolf was on the larger side, with dark grey fur with a white underside, a mostly white snout and one of it’s ears was almost completely missing. 

It walked half-way through the yard before turning it’s focus to the skeleton. Ccino didn’t dare move, the canines red and white eyes focused on him.  
The wolf walked a little closer to him and sniffed him. Then it looked back up at the skeleton, it’s tail wagging. Ccino was confused before realizing this must have been one of the wolves from the black one’s pack. It must’ve recognized him.   
The wolf then continued on it’s merry way, following the smell of it’s friend, disappearing through the bushes as well. 

Ccino gulped before standing up and going inside. It was too late to deal with any more surprises.   
He sat down at his kitchen table, hands still shaking slightly from everything that just happened.   
Why did he keep running into animals when trying to relax? What was he, a Disney princess?!

He eventually finished his cocoa and went to bed, gently moving the cats out of the way, which was easier said than done considering there was three of them and he only had two hands.   
Eventually he managed to get under the covers comfortably.   
Ccino really didn’t feel like dealing with anything anymore tonight.   
He would spite himself to sleep if he had to. 

\---

Horror wandered the edge of the forest until he finally found Dust, proudly trotting back with a rabbit hanging from his mouth by it’s ears.   
“Finally caught that thing, huh?”  
”Yup!”  
He put the dead lapine down for a moment.   
“Little bastard sure had a lot of stamina for a rabbit, but it was fun chasing it!”  
He looked down at his prey, tail wagging happily behind him. He looked back at the one-eared wolf.  
“Can you make stew or something with this when we get home?”   
“Sure, but it’s best to wait until full moon’s over. I don’t like having hair in my food, regardless of what form I’m in.”  
The two wolves then proceeded to trot back to the twins’ house. 

“I hope Blue hasn’t died of embarassment yet.”  
Horror flicked one of his ears. Dust snickered.   
“That new guy sure has a way with words doesn’t he?”  
“Sure does.”  
They walked in through the back door, being greeted by the sight of a light grey wolf curled up into a ball, clearly trying to hide his embarassment while being bombarded with pick-up lines from another, light cream and white coloured one.   
A large black wolf was watching the scene, looking approximately a 110% done with everything. 

“Glad to see nothing changed while we were away.”  
Dust snickered again.   
“Letting him join was a mistake.”  
Nightmare deadpanned. Dream sighed.   
“Brother, you should have known this would happen if you let Hearts into the same room with... anyone, really.”  
Nightmare grumbled, lying down, head on his front paws. He then turned his attention to Horror and Dust.   
“Did you two catch anything?”  
“Yeah, Dust got a rabbit. I kinda couldn’t be bothered to try.”  
Horror yawned while Dust walked to the kitchen before changing to a more anthropomorphic form.   
He then proceeded to remove everything unnecessary from the rabbit, cleaned it, put in a bag and threw it into the freezer. He then changed back into wolf form and walked back to the living room, laying down beside Killer on the couch. 

“I’m impressed at how many pick-up lines that guy has stored in his head. He’s been at it non-stop.”  
Killer mused.   
“Wonder how long it’s gonna take before Night decides to literally tape his mouth shut.”  
Dust smirked.   
“Honestly surprised he hasn’t done that yet.”  
“Well, apparently they knew eachother from school or something, so that’s probably the reason why he hasn’t done that yet.”  
Both of the wolves then proceeded to enjoy the show while it lasted. 

\---

It was now past 2am and the last member of the pack had finally arrived.  
“So, what happened? You look tired as fuck.”  
Dust questioned.   
“Ink caught me when I was about sneak out. I lost my focus and my ears and tail got summoned. Long story short, I had to explain to him why I had suddenly had ears and a tail -I swear he thinks I’m into petplay now- and why he _shouldn’t tell anyone_ about this _under any circumstances_.”  
Error groaned. He loved his boyfriend, but boy, was he a pain in the ass sometimes.   
“Welp, good luck with that.”  
Horror patted him on the back.   
  
“So, what’ve you been up to? You’ve been staring at the wall for at least as long as I’ve been here.”  
Error asked Dream, snapping him out of his thoughts.   
“Oh, I , uh...”  
“You’re still thinking about that guy you ran into?”  
“Yeah...”  
Nightmare huffed. Of course.   
“Ooh, does Dreamy have a crush~?”  
Hearts finally took a break from tormenting poor Blue, and looked towards Dream instead.  
Dream tried to hide behind his paws, failing miserably.   
“C’mon who is it?”  
Hearts interrogated him like a teenage girl trying to find out who their best friend was crushing on.  
“I-I don’t know. I just literally bumped into him at the store. I didn’t think to ask his name.”  
“Any special characteristics? Me and Dust work at the store, so we know most people in town?”  
Horror spoke up. 

“Uh... He’s also a skeleton, not a Were I think... He wore mainly black and white... Oh! One of his eyes was red, the other white and he had a small.. Scar? Under his right eye.”  
“Sounds like Cross.”  
Killer said.   
“He works as a security guard at Grillby’s. He looks kinda intimidating at first, but he’s really just a nervous wreck. He seems to be pretty strong though. Broke up a fight in there once by grabbing both fighters by the neck and dragging them out. ‘Twas pretty impressive, not gonna lie.”   
Dream’s tail was now wagging significantly faster, lost in his own fantasies.   
“Godammit.”  
Nightmare sighed. His brother was so hopeless. 

\---

Epic and Cross were preparing to go to sleep, both having an icepack on one of their sockets, due to both of them, somehow, having managed to poke the other in their eye socket during their epic rubber chicken sword fight 10 minutes prior.   
It was a miracle they hadn’t gotten noise complaints because of their shenanigans.   
“That was awesome, bruh! We gotta do it again some time!”  
“Yeah.. Although, let’s try not to poke eachother in the eye next time...”  
“Yeh...”  
There was a few minutes of silence between the skeletons before Epic shot up from his mattress like he had been struck by lightning.  
“Right! I totally forgot!”   
He ran to his bag and dug around a bit before he pulled out a small gift-wrapped cube.   
“F and C wanted you to have this. Don’t open it before xmas, bruh.”  
He lifted the ice pack from his socket and winked playfully at Cross.   
“Thanks, dude.”  
Cross took the small present and turned it around in his hands for a while.   
He smiled as he put the small cube on the table. He was glad those two still remembered and cared about him.   
He had sent both of them a holiday gift by mail as well as a card. Epic got his in-person since they’d planned the hangout for weeks now. 

The two skeletons eventually slipped under their respective blankets preparing to go to sleep again. And then proceeding to chat with eachother until 4am.   
Cross was grateful he didn’t have work in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a couple of things about how werewolves function in this story:
> 
> 1\. They can change between a regular wolf form and a more anthropomorphic form (the kind that shows up when you put 'werewolf' in Google image search.)  
They usually stick to the regular wolf form as to not get too much attention. 
> 
> 2\. They can transform by will, even when there isn't a full moon. Both partially and fully.  
Full moons however, force them to transform completely. They are usually affected by the full moon even a couple days before and after. 
> 
> 3\. Most werewolves don't hunt wild animals, but some of them like to. 
> 
> \---
> 
> Also, FYI, Lust goes by Hearts in this story. c:


	5. Christmas Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The peeps celebrate Christmas in their own ways. That's it.  
Also, Ccino's brother finally makes an appereance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy winter holiday of choice! I hope ya'll have a good one. c:  
-  
I settled at 'Mocha' for Ccino's brother's name.

It was morning, 9am, to be exact, on the 24th of December. Christmas Eve. 

Ccino paced excitedly back and forth on the train station.   
It felt like it had been years since he’d last seen his brother, even though it was only a couple of months ago. 

While they’d talked over the phone, he’d clearly heard the curiosity in his brother’s voice when they were talking about how his café was doing. While he might not have been interested in running a café himself, Mocha was definitely curious about what his brother had put together. 

And so they’d agreed that he’d visit Ccino for Christmas.   
He’d had to take the train very early in the morning since the next one would arrive at 3pm, and they wanted to actually spend the day together. 

The train was going to arrive any minute now...  
“The Y-train to Churchmoor will arrive at track 2.”  
Ccino perked up at the announcers voice. 

The train soon stopped at the station.   
A few people stepped out, including...  
“Brother!”  
Both of the skeletons ran towards eachother, Mocha dragging his baggage behind him, the small wheels almost not being able to keep up with the tall skeleton.   
Once the brothers reached eachother, they embraced eachother in a tight hug, neither of them wanting to let go for a while.

“I missed you so much, brother! How have you been since I last called?”  
The taller skeleton ended the hug, but kept holding onto the shorter’s arms, a happy and excited look in his eyes.   
“I missed you too! I’ve been fine. How about you?”  
“I’ve been fine as well, although quite busy.”  
He sighed. 

They started heading towards Ccino’s apartment, chatting about this and that on the way, the thin layer of snow on the ground crunching under their shoes.   
“It’s so quiet here compared to where we used to live.”  
“Isn’t it? I like it, and the cats seem to like it a lot more too.”  
Mocha was curiously looking around. Only a few people were outside, mostly families and people that had relatives coming over for the holidays, from the looks of it. 

Eventually they made it to Ccino’s apartment.   
The moment Ccino unlocked the door, the cats came rushing towards them, purring and rubbing against the brothers, but paying special attention to Mocha since they hadn’t seen him in so long.   
“Heh, seems you guys missed me as much as I missed you..”  
The tall skeleton chuckled, trying his best to pet all three cats at the same time.   
Ccino chuckled as they stepped inside, closing the door behind them. 

Once they’d gotten their outerwear off, which craved a little more effort than usual when you have three cats attached to you, they walked to the kitchen.   
“I assume Darjeeling tea is still your favourite?”  
The barista asked while reaching for the box of tea on the second shelf of the cupboard. Stars, why was the world built for tall people?  
“Of course. And I assume your favourite is still cocoa with half a kilogram of marshmallows in it?”  
Mocha grinned playfully from where he sat at the kitchen table, two cats in his lap and one around his shoulders, almost like a scarf, all of them purring.   
“Absolutely!”  
Ccino answered excitedly as he began preparing their drinks, setting out some cookies and so on.   
Once both of them had their drinks in their hands they began to properly catch up with what had been going on since they’d moved apart. 

The rest of the day was spent taking it easy, cuddling cats, and having to constantly un-tangle said cats from tinsel or keeping them from climbing the Christmas tree. 

\---

“Dream, I’m pretty sure you are making him very uncomfortable by staring at him non-stop.”  
“...But I can’t get my eyes off of him...”  
The yellow twin had been staring at Cross from the moment he spotted him in the corner of the pub, arms _crossed_ -heh- and leaning against the wall, keeping an eye on everything that was happening around him.   
  
When he had noticed Dream was staring at him, he’d looked around nervously before trying to sink further into the wall and attempting to avoid eye-contact, but still managing to lock eyes with him a few times.   
The heterochromic skeleton was internally screaming at the fact that the person he’d literally bumped into two weeks ago was staring right at him. He had done the exact same thing every time he visited, after they’d bumped into eachother. Cross had a feeling he visited specifically to stare at him, considering he hadn’t really seen the skeleton around the pub before that.  
_Was he still mad at him after all?_ _What if he-  
_Cross shook his head, trying to rid himself of the thoughts. Maybe if he just tried harder to mind his own business the other would finally stop staring at him-  
“Hey.”  
_Fuck.  
_Cross nervously looked down at the yellow-eyed skeleton, gulping. He somehow managed to keep his voice stable.   
“...Yes?”  
The smaller’s eye-lights seemed to sparkle a little when he answered. It didn’t exactly ease his anxiety, mind you.   
“I... I was just kinda wondering if you’d like to... Um... Talk... or hang out some time? Maybe grab a coffee?”  
Hearts had told Dream to just get straight to the point, but he still wondered if he’d been too straightforward in trying to score a date or at least get to know the other, now that he’d finally gathered up the courage to actually ask him out.  
  
“I- uh.... Like.. A date.. Or something?”  
Was the best Cross managed to get out. This was definitely not what he’d been expecting.   
Dream blushed lightly and began poking his pointer fingers together nervously.   
“...Something like that...”  
He answered quietly, averting his eyes.   
Stars, why did he feel so nervous now that he was actually talking to the other? 

Cross took a moment trying to process everything. The guy he’d literally bumped into two weeks ago was asking him out? He felt like he was in some cheesy romance anime.   
There had to be a catch. There’s no way just simply running into an, admittedly adorable, guy would make him fall in love with him, right?  
But... The other had lived here before him, and he hadn’t heard anything bad about him, he thought so anyway... And he _was_ pretty cute... And it’s not like Cross had ever really been on a proper date (that he actually wanted to be on) before...  
_Fuck it. What’s the worst that could happen?   
_“I...sure...I guess..”  
Cross finally answered, albeit a little awkwardly.   
“But, um... What’s your name?”  
He scratched the back of his skull nervously, only to almost drop his jaw to the floor when the other looked back up at him with large, star-shaped eye-lights.   
Cross couldn’t help but flush a little at the unexpected sight. Okay, that was genuinely very adorable. 

“Oh! Right. My name is Dream!”  
He smiled and extended his hand to shake it with the taller skeleton.   
Cross slowly shook his hand with the other, looking up behind the other, only to see Grillby grinning at him light-heartedly from behind the counter. Seems the fire-elemental had caught wind of what was going on way earlier than him.   
His confidence rose a little.   
“Right, I should probably introduce myself as well. I’m Cross.”  
He gave a small smile.   
Dream nodded happily. 

Nightmare was looking on as the two talked and made their plans. Seems things could work out after all. One could always hope. Dream had a bad habit of crushing on people very easily, said crushes usually vanishing pretty quickly. Maybe this time it would hold?   
He brought his attention back to his coffee. It wasn't as good as Ccino's in his opinion, but since Ccino's café was closed, he had to get his coffee from elsewhere.   
  
Nightmare had never quite understood how his brother could fall in love so easily. He had never even had a proper crush himself.   
At this point he was starting to wonder if he even _could_ feel romantic attraction, like Dust, who had come to the realization of being aromantic years ago. Or maybe he just hadn’t met ‘the one’ yet.   
Then again, he didn’t really go out more than he had to, so that might be a partial cause of that.   
Although he had had a couple of human girls apparently pining over him in junior-high, mainly because he was ~so mysterious~.   
Nightmare scoffed. Anyone could seem ~mysterious~ if you haven’t ever talked to them.   
The concept of falling in love with or dating someone you barely knew had always seemed so weird to him.   
Regardless, he would support his brother, as long the relationship was healthy and not getting him into any trouble. 

He was snapped out of his thoughts by said brother almost bouncing back to the table, a wide smile on his face.   
“We agreed to go to the café on the 28th! I also got his number!”   
Nightmare smiled.   
“I’m glad it went well.”  
Dream had a hard time sitting still. He also kept sneaking glances at the security guard for the rest of the duration they stayed, said guard looking a little more confident himself. 

Cross didn’t remember when he’d last felt this good about himself.   
This Dream person seemed like a really nice guy, and pretty cute to boot. Honestly, the guard was surprised he wasn’t taken yet.   
And the fact that Dream had asked _him_ out, meant he was genuinely interested in him, so that must mean Cross was doing something right, or at least looked good enough in his eyes.   
He didn’t let his thoughts wander to everything that could go wrong on their date, he wanted to bask in this feeling for at least a little longer. 

Eventually closing time came, and he left alongside the customers. He wished his boss a merry Christmas as he passed him.   
“Merry Christmas to you too, Cross. And good luck.”  
The fire elemental winked at him.   
Cross hid most of his flushed face in his snood. He still couldn’t believe he got asked out.   
  
On his way out he came across the twins. They exchanged small nods in greeting as they walked out simultaneously.   
Dream and Cross kept glancing at eachother, both of them clearly excited.   
Nightmare rolled his eyes with a small smile on his face.   
The twins and Cross eventually parted ways, waving eachother goodbye. 

\---

Cross spent the rest of his day watching Christmas movies and playing video games, thoughts still spinning around what happened today.   
Most people would have considered it a pretty sad way to spend Christmas, but Cross had never really cared about it that much. It was just another holiday that had slowly become more and more of an excuse to sell cheap, low-quality trinkets to consumers and for ‘family’ members to demand you spend time with them even if they’ve done nothing good for you in their entire life. 

He couldn’t deny he still liked the general spirit of the holiday though.   
He had a small, plastic Christmas tree in a pot, decorated with a small star at the top, some tinsel and baubles.   
He also had a string of fairylights on his balcony and some lights in his windows. 

Cross felt at ease and perfectly content spending his evening laying in his red beanbag, munching on some gingerbreads while playing relaxed videogames until he got tired enough to go to sleep. 

It was then that he remembered the gift Epic had delivered him.

The gift Epic had gotten him himself had been 2 kilograms worth of chocolate, which Cross was very grateful for, but he was still very curious about what Frisk and Chara had gotten him.  
He first took a look at the card they'd sent him. It was a picture of the two humans wearing Christmas sweaters and Santa hats, arms over eachother's shoulders. Over the picture was written in white text "Merry Crossmas!". He smiled. Good to see the two dorks still got along.  
He then moved his attention to the gift.   
Cross gently removed the paper and ribbon from the small gift. In his hands was left a small black box.  
He curiously opened the box.   
Inside was a small, golden heart locket. The locket itself had a small picture of Cross, Epic, Frisk and Chara from back when they were young, inside of it.   
He smiled and clutched the locket to his chest. Most of the good memories from his childhood were from when he was together with these three.   
  
He would treasure it always. 

\---

The twins spent their evening with the rest of the pack, with the exception of Error who was spending his Christmas with Ink.   
It was definitely a lively evening, but still more relaxed than when they usually hung out. 

The gang ate, opened presents, ate some more and played some board games, leading to the table literally getting flipped more than once.   
When night came, they all curled up in the pillowfort they’d built earlier that day, cuddling together, happy and content with life. 

\---

Error and Ink had a mostly relaxed Christmas Eve.   
Morning and noon was spent putting up any last minute decorations and making preparations for the evening.   
Early afternoon Ink managed to convince his boyfriend to join him in a bubble bath. Error actually fell asleep in the bath, only to wake up to having a pair of cat ears made out of bubbles on his head and Ink giggling like a madman while snapping pictures of him. 

The evening and early night they spent in a similar fashion to the gang. Eating, opening presents and playing some games.   
At the end of the day they cuddled up on the couch under a blanket, some calm holiday songs playing softly in the background.   
Error eventually carried his boyfriend to bed after he’d fallen asleep against his shoulder. 

\---

Reaper had thought it would be a good idea to give Goth a small plastic scythe as a present. He promptly regretted his decision as the babybones thought it would be hilarious to repeatedly smack his father in the face with the small ‘weapon’.   
Geno recorded the whole event on his phone, amused and ignoring his husband’s purposefully overdramatic pleas for help. 

“You’re so heartless, Geno. You just left me to suffer at his hands.”  
Reaper whined playfully, hugging Geno from behind, resting his head on the other’s shoulder.  
Little Goth had tired himself out and fallen asleep, still tightly clutching the small scythe.   
  
“You brought it onto yourself, dear.”  
Geno smirked back. He looked back at the toddler that had fallen asleep on the middle of the living room carpet, hugging the toy closer.   
“I guess you aren’t the only _reaper_ in this house anymore.”  
Geno poked Reaper’s cheek. The two laughed at the pun before carrying the little one to his bed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been busy this month, so I didn't have time to write in as much detail as I'd hoped. Hope you all enjoyed it regardless. ^^  
-  
By the way, Frisk and Chara are the XTale versions, just so we're clear. c:  
-  
Edit:   
The feeling when you accidentally type Ccino instead of Geno.  
Their names are so similar. qwq


	6. First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two adorable dorks go on their first date. uwu  
Not quite in-season anymore, but I hope you enjoy regardless.

Dream was subconsciously walking faster than usual, even though he felt like he was walking so, _so_ slow.   
He was both excited and a little nervous about his date with Cross. They had agreed to meet in front of the café at 1pm.   
He caught sight of his date as soon as he came within viewing range of the building. 

Cross was swaying from his heels to his toes and back, hands in the pockets of his winter coat, trying to keep himself warm. He cursed himself for arriving half an hour earlier than they’d agreed to, in fear of running even a minute late for his date.   
“Cross!”  
The skeleton in question perked up at the call. He smiled as his date ran the few meters there was between them, lucky enough to avoid slipping on the thin layer of ice under the snow.   
“Have you been waiting for long?”  
Dream asked, evening out his breathing.   
“I wanted to make sure I was on time so... I kinda arrived half an hour early...”  
Cross averted his eyes awkwardly. Dream smiled.   
“Let’s go in to warm you up then.”

Cross jolted when the other grabbed his hand, but nodded as they made their way inside. 

The café was as warm and welcoming as ever. A cat immediately ran up to the two skeletons and nuzzled against their legs as they, now more slowly as to not trip over the cat, walked up to the counter.   
Ccino greeted them with his usual smile and they greeted back happily.   
It took them a moment to decide on what they wanted to order, but eventually settled on hot cocoa and a piece of chocolate cake each. 

They picked one of the corner tables further back, ensuring at least a little bit of privacy. Even the cat that had been following them giving them a bit of space.   
They'd barely managed to get their coats off when Ccino already brought their cocoas to the table. 

Once they were alone again, both skeletons devolved into awkwardly gazing from their date to their drink before going back up again, neither of them sure of how to start a conversation at that moment.   
Eventually Cross took the first bite of his piece of cake, eyes lighting up immediately. _Stars_, he loved chocolate.

Dream followed suit and took a small piece, his eyelights turning into stars at the taste. 

Cross almost dropped his fork at the sight of the starry-eyed Dream happily munching away at the sweet dessert.   
_‘Oh sweet stars he’s adorable...’  
_He snapped out of it once Dream caught him staring, the bright skeleton tilting his head as if to ask if everything was all right. Cross quickly got back to eating his cake, embarrassed and with a significantly more flushed face.   
Dream smiled. 

There was a few minutes of silence between them before Dream decided to speak up, his voice starting off a little quiet at first.   
“So... How have you been? Did your Christmas go well?”  
Cross looked up from his cake, almost surprised.   
“I-I.. Uh.. I’ve been fine. The usual. And Christmas went well. I don’t really celebrate it that much, so I mostly just took it easy.”  
Before Dream could reply, he continued;  
“How have you been doing?”  
“I’ve been fine. Since there was a lot of us in the house during Christmas, some uh.. shenanigans happened, but other than that things have been good. I’ve been... Very excited for today.”  
Dream averted his eyes during the last sentence, a small, shy smile and a light blush on his face. If his tail had been summoned at that moment, it would have been wagging back and forth.  
Cross fiddled with his fork for a few seconds before replying.   
“Well.. I hope I haven’t gotten you excited for nothing.”  
”Not at all!”  
Dream replied.   
“I really enjoy being in your company, regardless of whether or not we talk or do whatever or even... Don’t go further with this..”  
Dream’s smile dropped slightly before going back up again.   
“Regardless, I hope both of us will enjoy this.”  
Cross looked at Dream silently for a moment before letting a small smile creep to his face as he nodded. 

Some time later, Cross was already finished with his cake and had moved on to his now warm rather than hot cocoa. Dream on the other hand had only gotten a little over half of his piece eaten.   
“You really liked that cake, huh?”  
Dream noted.   
Cross looked up, almost startled by his date talking again. He nodded, hiding a bit of his face in his black turtle-neck.  
“Y-yeah.. I really like chocolate in general. It’s so good.”  
The heterochromic skeleton looked almost serene, his mind drifting to all things chocolate. Dream chuckled lightly.   
He had a feeling Cross and Error would bond well over their love for chocolate. 

For the rest of their date they kept doing some light small talk, occasionally asking questions about each other. 

They would most likely have chatted the night away if Ccino hadn’t apologetically told them it was past closing time and they had to leave.   
Both of the sweethearts ended up apologizing profusely despite the barista trying to assure them it was okay. 

They eventually left the café, wishing the café-owner a nice evening, Ccino doing the same to them. 

The two walked the silent, mostly empty, streets arm in arm, the light of the streetlamps illuminating the two skeletons and the small snowflakes that had begun falling even before the two had left the café.   
“You don’t have to walk me all the way home if you don’t want to.”   
The shorter skeleton mentioned.   
“I know... But I do want to.”  
Cross smiled down at his date, who replied with a happy smile and nuzzle to his shoulder. 

Eventually they stopped in front of Dream’s and Nightmare’s porch. 

“I guess that’s it for tonight.”  
Dream sighed before turning to Cross and hugging him.  
“I really enjoyed today. Thank you.”

Cross’ figurative brain short-circuited for a moment when Dream hugged him. He eventually wrapped his arms around the shorter before he could pull back though.  
Dream replied with a gentle nuzzle.   
They stood there, holding each other for a few minutes before pulling back. 

“I enjoyed this too.. And... Uh... If you want to.. No pressure of course! I.. Would like to do this again some time?”  
Cross sputtered out.   
“I’d love to.”  
Was his answer. 

They nodded at each other and stood in the light snowfall, holding each other’s hands for a few more moments before Cross turned to leave. 

“Please text me when you get home!   
Cross looked over his shoulder at Dream, nodding, a relaxed smile on his face.  
“I will.”   
They then waved each other goodbye.   
Dream stayed and looked after Cross for a while longer before finally unlocking the front door and walking in. 

In the middle of taking off the outer layer of clothes, he paused and put a hand over the area his SOUL was, and smiled again. He could feel it. This time it wasn’t just a simple crush that would fade within a week or two.   
This time...

It was love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s uh... been a while, huh?  
I hope you all enjoyed the two dorks being dorks, despite my lack of experience or knowledge in anything romance related. :’)
> 
> I still want to rewrite the beginning of this fic, but for now I’ll be continuing it. C:


End file.
